Brenda Kay Broadway, 31, was abducted and murdered on June 11, 1982, after returning home from work with her two daughters in Kermit, Texas. Shortly after midnight the family was taken at knifepoint from a local car wash and driven south on the Monahans highway before being taken onto a dirt road in a remote part of Winkler County. The assailant bound them, forced sexual acts, then stabbed Brenda multiple times. Her 8-year-old daughter Christy Michelle Elms was found murdered in a shallow grave; the 14-year-old Salina Kay Elms escaped into the desert, ultimately reaching an oil rig where workers alerted authorities.

Investigators found both Brenda’s and Christy’s bodies in a shallow grave and noted the scene had been cleaned and footprints raked away. The Texas Rangers joined the inquiry. A composite and Salina’s statement led to the identification and arrest of Michael Eugene Sharp; an arrest warrant was issued June 14, 1982, and he was taken into custody two days later.

Who knew Brenda or her family, or saw anything unusual around the Monahans highway or the dirt roads south of Kermit that night?